Smart Phone Palooza: 10 Hot Touch-Screens Compared

By Daniel Ionescu, PC World

Curious how today’s latest touch-screen smart phones compare? With 10 popular models to choose from, it’s hard to keep track. But our charts will help you find the perfect touch-screen phone.

Keeping tabs on the latest cell phone models can be a full-time job, especially given the number of cell phones announced by Apple, Palm, Nokia and HTC (including, most recently, the BlackBerry-like T-Mobile Dash) over the past few months. But thanks to PC World, you don't have to hunt down and compare the various touch-screen smart phones yourself.

Smart Phone Palooza: 10 Hot Touch-Screens Compared // Meet the touch-screen contenders. Top row (left to right): Apple iPhone 3GS, T-Mobile myTouch 3G, HTC Hero, Palm Pre, Nokia N97. Bottom row (left to right): Apple iPhone 3G, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia 5530, Samsung Omnia II, HTC Touch Pro2. (Image courtesy of PC World)

We pitted 10 recently announced touch-screen handhelds against each other to see how they would match up. Then we compiled a series of three comparison charts to help you decide whether an HTC Hero with a 5-megapixel camera suits you better than, say, a Nokia N97 with a stereo FM receiver. The charts provide quick answers to questions such as these: Which smart phones have on-screen keyboards and which have hardware keyboards? Which touch-screens are best at multimedia? How much does each one cost?

The first chart lists basic specs: manufacturer, carrier, platform, size, weight, type of keyboard, colors, price, availability and carrier). The second chart identifies the phones' multimedia capabilities (screen resolution, camera image resolution, autofocus, flash, video recording, secondary camera, audio jack and radio) and navigation smarts (GPS and geotagging). The third chart focuses on storage capacity (on-board and expandable), connectivity (3G, Bluetooth, USB and Wi-Fi) and battery features (removability, standby time and talk time).

The phones included in this roundup are Apple's iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G, the Palm Pre, two Symbian offerings (the Nokia N97 and the Nokia 5530), three devices running on Google Android (the HTC Hero, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Samsung Galaxy) and two Windows Mobile smart phones (the HTC Touch Pro2 and the Samsung Omnia II).

Basic specs

If you're looking for a slim, pocket-size phone, consider the Samsung Galaxy [video] and the Samsung Omnia II: With a thickness of just 0.46 inch each, they're the slimmest units in our group, followed closely by the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS at 0.48 inch each. If you want a colorful phone, your best bet may be the Nokia 5530, which comes in five color combinations (and also weighs the least -- 3.8 ounces -- of any smart phone here).

Smart Phone Palooza: 10 Hot Touch-Screens Compared (Image courtesy of PC World)

Sending e-mail or text messages should be a breeze from any of these smart phones, but only three of them -- the Palm Pre, the Nokia N97 and the HTC Touch Pro2 -- have a full QWERTY keyboard. The Palm Pre has the smallest physical keyboard of the three, as it is oriented vertically.

The remaining seven smart phones feature touch-screen keyboards. Though typing on a glass/plastic screen takes some getting used to, your keyboarding speed should improve within a week or two. The software keyboards on the iPhone and Android phones are quite similar and they are designed to predict (and offer to complete) what you are typing as well as to make corrections.

Smart Phone Palooza: 10 Hot Touch-Screens Compared // The HTC Hero, running Android OS (Image courtesy of PC World)

Most smart phones are available from particular carriers at a much-reduced price when you make a two-year commitment to the carrier's wireless service. The overall cost of ownership thus depends on which call and data plan you choose. (For more information, see our buying guide, "How to Buy a Cell Phone.")

For a snapshot-style glimpse at the wireless network performance of AT&T, Sprint and Verizon on a particular day last spring in 13 major U.S. cities, see "A Day in the Life of 3G."

Specifications and prices for unreleased phones are subject to change by the manufacturer and by the wireless carrier. The prices and specifications listed here are correct as of July 1, 2009.